The question now was as to how the mischief had been wrought. Many were the theories suggested, but one after another they were all felt to be untenable. A few days afterwards Jet’s old friend the collie had to be fastened up, as a disagreeable neighbour had a still more disagreeable gamekeeper, and the latter threatened to shoot all dogs found on his land. This proved to be Jet’s undoing.
As soon as he was let out in the morning, Jet made his way to the stable, squeezed his small body through the door, and without destroying the friendly relations between him and the mothers, secured his morning feast of eggs. Leaving no trace of his meal, he was seen to come out, bearing a shell in his mouth, and look round for the collie. He then went back and brought away every remnant of shell that would have borne evidence against him. But no friendly collie came at his call to eat up the little pile of broken shell and thus bring the enterprise to its usual successful ending. Jet had done his part with all the finish of an accomplished conspirator, but the egg-shells remained as a witness against him. When his mistress paid her usual after-breakfast visit to the chicken yard, Jet showed no disposition to accompany her.
The tiny creature had a brave heart, and before he left his London home he saved the house from being robbed. Along the row of houses ran a parapet that led past some of the bedroom windows, of which Jet’s mistress’s room was one. While the family were downstairs at dinner, Jet was lying on the bed in this room. A man who came creeping along the parapet stopped at the window and prepared to effect an entrance. But Jet was on the alert, and springing from the bed he barked his loudest, thereby causing the burglar to move on, and in time bringing his family up to see what dire misfortune could have happened to him. But though resolute in doing his duty, Jet had no taste for acting guard, and never again would he be left alone in that room.
He was about two and a half years old when he first went with his family to the seaside. He had not seen the sea since he left his first home at the age of six months, but he greeted the sight of it as that of an old friend. His first performance was to lead a younger but much larger dog into difficulties over the slippery seaweed-covered rocks. To Jet’s slight form and active ways these presented no difficulty; but he insisted on the other dog following him until, the puppy’s strength and courage both failing, he came to a standstill in a spot perilously near the advancing waves. Then Jet was satisfied, and hastened back to his friends to tell them their assistance was needed. While he watched the rescue there was an air of self-possessed interest and innocent enjoyment about him that he always displayed on these occasions.
The hour of bathing was not one of unmixed enjoyment for Jet. He had no idea of risking his dainty form in the vast expanse of water, and resisted all invitations to join in his friends’ pleasure. But when he saw his mistress plunge into unknown dangers, he no longer hesitated. With a spring and a splash he resolutely faced the peril for himself, and swam out to her assistance. After this, Jet’s devotion was not put to the test again.
No one realised that the active little creature had passed the prime of life till an accident brought the sad fact home to his friends. He seemed to do no more than give a passing sniff at a dead rat, but the whiff of strychnine was enough to give him slight spasms and fits, from which it took him long to recover. Never again was Jet to enjoy life with the same irresponsible freedom that had marked his earlier days. When his sight began to weaken, he was very tetchy about its being noticed, for his ardent little spirit could not brook the restraining limits of a semi-invalid existence. Yet he lived to a good old age, and only left his many friends when sixteen summers had brought him the varied joys of which he had known how to make the most.